COL.  GEORGE  WASHINGTON  FLOWERS 
MEMORIAL  COLLECTION 


DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
DURHAM,  N.  C. 


PRESENTED  BY 

W.  W.  FLOWERS 


i/  ^ 

Digitized  by 

the  Internet  Archive 

in  2015 

https://archive.org/details/greatnationaldelOOIeea 


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THE  GREAT  NATIONAL  DELIVERANCE. 
PS.  LXVI :  10—12. 

A  SERMON 

fm]t\)t\\  on  l^t  laq  of  ^fjanbgining 

DECEMBER?,  186§, 

IN 

ST.  ANDREW'S  CHURCH,  WILMINGTON,  DEL- 
BY   ALFRED   LEE,  (_ 

BISHOP  OF  THE  DIOCESE  OF  DELAWARE. 
F'l [BUSHED  BY  REQUEST  OF  THE  VESTRY  OF  ST.  ANDREW'S  CHURCH, 


WILMINGTON: 

HENRY  ECKEL,  PRINTER, 

Sj  K.  OOBNEE  FIFTH  AND  MARKET  STREETS. 

1865. 


PSALM  LXVI:  10-12.  ^ 

"  For  tliou,  0  God,  hast  proved  us  :  thou  hast  tried  us  assi'ver  is  tri -d: 
Thou  broughtest  us  into  the  net :  thou  laidst  affliction  upon  our  h)ii  s. 
Thou  hast  caused  men  to  ri(h^  over  our  heads  ;  we  went  through  fire  and 
through  water :  but  thou  broughtest  us  out  into  a  wealthy  place  " 

On  the  11th  day  of  April,  18G5,  Abraham  Lincoln, 
from  the  steps  of  the  Executive  Mansion,  addressed 
an  excited  crowd,  who  had  assembled  to  congratu- 
late him  upon  the  sio;nal  and  decisive  successes  that 
had  crowned  the  national  arms.  After  referring  to 
these  victories  as  giving*  hope  of  a  righteous  and 
speedy  peace,  he  said,  "  In  tiie  midst  of  these  joyous 
expressions,  He  from  whom  all  blessings  flow  must 
not  be  forgotten.  A  call  for  a  National  Thanksgiving 
is  being  prepared  and  will  be  duly  promulgated." 

Little  knew  this  great  and  good  man  that  the  call 
which  he  was  preparing  for  a  National  Thanksgiving 
would  not  be  issued.  Little  did  he,  or  those  whom 
he  addressed,  forsee  how  it  would  be  arrested,  and 
that,  before  the  week  ended,  mourning  and  lamenta- 
tion would  succeed  to  the  shouts  of  gladness:  in- 
stead of  joyous  celebrations,  the  great  deliverance 
would  be  almost  forgotten  in  the  awful  bereavement. 
In  place  of  triumphant  processions,  with  waving 
banners  and  j  ubilant  music,  an  immense  funeral  train 


4 


would  be  traversing  the  land.  And  the  temples  of 
the  Lord,  instead  of  echoing  hymns  of  grateful  praise, 
would  be  thronged  with  sympathizing  and  tearful 
groups,  pouring  out  their  tribute  of  sorrowful  rever- 
ence for  departed  excellence,  and  crying  out  of  the 
depth  unto  God  for  help  and  consolation. 

The  dealings  of  the  Almighty  with  this  nation 
have  been  very  marked  and  marvellous,  and  in 
nothing  more  than  this,  that,  in  the  very  hour  of  a 
triumph  so  long  waited  for,  so  ardently  desired,  and 
in  itself  so  complete,  the  predominant  emotion  should 
be  grief  and  not  gladness;  and  a  stricken,  suppliant 
people  should  be  bov/ed  down  in  humility  before  the 
throne  of  grace  instead  of  making  the  air  ring  with 
acclamations. 

That  day  of  Thanksgiving  which  the  martyred 
President  was  about  to  announce,  on  the  eve  of  his 
violent  death,  has  now  come.  The  interval,  since  the 
last  armed  foeman  laid  down  his  weapons,  has  en- 
abled us  better  to  estimate  the  magnitude  of  the 
mercies  vouchsafed  to  us.  If  the  public  feeling  shall 
be  less  tumultuous  than  it  would  have  been,  had 
such  a  festival  come  immediately  after  the  termina- 
tion of  the  war,  it  will  be  a  profound,  sober,  earnest 
gratitude,  even  more  genuine  and  heartfelt.  We  can 
now  judge  more  calmly  of  the  events  through  which 
we  have  passed — we  can  better  guage  the  awfulness 
of  our  dangers  and  the  greatness  of  our  deliverance  ; 


5 

— loolv  down  into  tlio  unfaihon^icxble  abyss  into  which 
treason  would  have  plunged  the  nation,  and  see  more 
plainly  that  mighty  arm  which  was  outstretched  to 
hold  it  hack. 

It  was  a  considerable  time  before  we  could  fairly 
take  in  the  amazing  mercy  we  had  experienced. 
"  When  the  Lord  turned  the  captivity  of  Zion,  then 
were  we  like  unto  them  that  dream."  How  often, 
while  the  tempest  was  raging,  had  we  straitied  our 
aching  eyes  to  catch  through  the  clouds  and  storm- 
rack  some  glimpse  of  the  longed-for  shore — the  region 
of  peace.  Can  it  be  that  we  are  now  standing  there, 
tranquil  and  secure?  Is  the  dread  struggle  ended  ? 
Is  the  hurricane  spent  ?  Is  violence  no  more  heard 
in  the  land  ?  Has  the  thunder  of  the  cannonade  sunk 
into  silence  ?  And  has  peace  come  in  the  most  de- 
sirable shape^  sealiug  and  settling,  as  we  trust,  for- 
ever the  great  principles  of  right,  order,  liberty  and 
humanity  which  were  at  stake  ?  Truly,  the  trans- 
ition has  been  so  sudden,  so  vast,  so  blessed,  that  we 
have  been  at  times  almost  disposed  to  doubt  the  evi- 
dence of  our  senses,  and  to  fear  lest  we  be  awakened 
from  a  pleasing  illusion  by  the  old  sounds  of  the 
drum-beat  and  the  trumpet.  Even  though  we  had 
such  strong,  unwavering  confidence  in  the  justice  of 
our  cause  and  its  ultimate  success — and  I  thank  God 
my  ovrn  faith  never  failed — yet  high-raised  hopes  had 
been  so  repeatedly  dashed,  and  the  wisdom  of  man 

2 


G 


had  teen  so  often  at  fault,  and  the  period  of  onr 
needful  trial  was  so  inscrutable,  that,  when  the  mercy 
came,  it  came  as  a  surprise,  and  there  was  hardly 
loom  in  our  hearts  to  receiye  it. 

We  have  often  met  on  thanksgiving  occasions. 
Year  after  year  has  broug-ht  us  multiplied  blessings 
to  be  joyfully  commemorated.  But  never  have  we 
had  a  day  like  this.  Kever  were  a  people  more  im- 
pressively calfed  to  celebrate  the  praises  of  the  Lord. 
Richer  mercies  never  wakened  the  song  of  national 
praise^  since  Moses  chaunted  his  sublime  anthem  on 
the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  Miriam  and  the 
daughters  of  Israel  responded  with  the  sound  of  the 
timbrel. 

In  the  liinited  space  of  this  service  I  should  despair 
of  doing  justice  to  so  grand  a  theme.  After  ages^  will 
dwell  upon  the  trials  and  triumphs  of  the  season 
through  which  v/e  have  passed  with  a  delighted  en- 
thusiasm far  more  intense  and  glowing  than  that 
wherewith  we  recur  to  the  era  of  the  old  revolution. 
I  can  only  glance  at  some  of  the  amazing  mercies 
that  have  come  to  us  from  the  Father  of  lights. 

1,  First,  I  name  our  national  preservation.  The 
plot  against  the  nation's  life,  so  insidious  and  so  for- 
midable, has  been  utterly  foiled.  The  United  States 
have  survived  this  terrible  ordeal,  and  as  one  great 
unbroken  nation  challenge  the  respect  and  admiration 
of  the  powers  of  the  world.    The  nation  has  come 


7 


out  of  this  tremendous  grapple  in  its  integrity  ;  not 
a  single  star  torn  from  its  glorious  banner,  not  a  single 
acre  severed  from  its  magnificent  domain,  not  a  spot 
upon  its  broad  area  where  its  sovereignty  is  denied. 
The  old  time-honored  flag,  Vv^hich  so  short  a  time  ago 
was  trampled  in  the  dust,  now  waves  triumphantly 
on  the  borders  of  Northern  lakes,  on  the  shores  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  along  the  whole  course  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, on  the  peaks  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  where 
the  surge  of  the  Atlantic  thunders,  and  where  the 
vast  Pacific  shuts  in  the  Western  horizon.  All  this 
fair  expanse  is  the  heritage  of  one  people— so  to  con- 
tinue, we  trust,  to  the  latest  generation.  This  vital 
question,  so  far  as  human  wisdom  can  judge,  is  settled 
once  for  all.  The  most  desperate  and  reckless  am- 
bition is  hardly  likely  ever  to  renew  again  an  attempt 
so  completely  baffled. 

Now,  it  is  not  merely  in  a  sentiment  of  national 
pride  that  we  exult  in  this  issue.  The  question  was 
one  of  unutterable  magnitude  and  importance.  Upon 
the  national  life  were  suspended  the  most  vital  is- 
sues. Every  great  interest  was  involved  in  this 
struggle — the  arts  of  civilisation,  the  honors  and  re- 
wards of  industry,  the  development  of  our  internal 
resources,  the  ability  to  resist  foreign  aggression,  the 
perpetuity  of  our  free  institutions,  the  spread  of  edu" 
cation,  liberty  of  conscience,  and  the  purity  and 
truthfulness  of  religion ;  our  homes,  our  schools,  our 


8 


altarS;  all  the  goodly  inlieritance  beqiieatlied  to  us  by 
our  fathers  were  at  stake.  For,  what  would  have 
been  our  condition  with  our  country  broken  up  into 
fragments,  or  divided  by  an  artificial  boundajy  line, 
bristling  on  either  side  with  bayonets  ;  bloody  forays 
incessantly  made  across  the  borders ;  neither  side 
daring  to  disarm ; — a  chronic,  Ic'rocious  warfare ;  a 
series  of  perpetual  irritations  ;  flames  no  sooner  sup- 
pressed in  one  point  than  they  burst  out  in  another. 
And  one  saccessfiil  conspiracy  would  infallibly  givrj 
rise  to  others ;  a  brood  of  serpents  would  be  hatched 
from  the  cockatrice's  eggs  ; — every  bold,  bad  man 
would  be  weaving  his  intrigues,  and  hoping  to  carve 
his  way  by  the  sword  to  wealth  and  power.  We  may 
see  on  many  pages  of  history  the  baneful  conse- 
quences of  a  number  of  petty  rival  States  inhabiting 
II  territory  adapted  to  a  single  nation.  We  have 
seen  these  consequences  on  our  own  continent.  But 
a  people  so  energetic,  stirring  and  aggressive  as  the 
inhabitants  of  these  States,  thus  separated,  with  so 
balefal  a  source  of  irritation  as  w^ould  exist  if  one 
side  held  a  free  and  the  other  a  slave  population^ 
would  furnish  a  spectacle  fearful  indeed. 

From  these  appalling  dangers  we  have  been  pre- 
served. The  heritage  of  our  children,  as  we  hope  and 
believe,  is  not  to  be  anarchy,  dissension,  bloody  strife, 
and  eventual  barbarism — but  brotherly  concord,  equal 
and  stable  laws,  order,  industry,  intelligence,  civili- 


9 


zation,  liberty  and  Christianity.  A  future  opens  the 
most  mag-nificent  that  ever  nation  could  venture  to 
hope.  The  foul  vulture  brood,  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic,  who  were  watching  for  the  faJl  and  the 
death-throes  of  this  Republic,  that  they  might  feast 
upon  the  giar^t  carcase,  flee  away  in  confusion  and 
terror.  One  glorious,  unbroken  Commonwealth  sits 
majestic  and  secure  upon  her  Western  throne. 

And  to  whom  is  this  preservation  owing  ?  "  Not 
unto  us,  0  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy  name  give 
the  praise."  It  w^as  a  dark  and  portentous  hour 
when  the  nation  was  wTithino-  and  struofs'linp-  in  the 
meshes  of  the  conspiracy  that  had  been  so  artfully 
woven  around  it  by  secret  traitors,  by  pampered  and 
perjured  sons.  Deep  laid  and  unscrupulous  the  plot 
had  been  matured,  while  the  great  mass  of  a  gener- 
ous people  were  unsuspicious  and  incredulous.  When 
it  burst  out,  the  State  found  itself  stripped  and  de- 
fenceless,— the  navy  dispersed,  the  army  scattered 
and  disabled,  the  treasury  empty,  arms  and  munitions 
of  war  given  into  the  hands  of  enemies — treason 
seated  in  high  places,  lurking  in  official  bureaus, 
and  lilting  its  brazen  front  in  the  Capitol.  Samson 
was  bound,  hand  and  foot,  and  the  Philistines  were 
upon  him.  But  his  locks  were  unshorn — patriotic 
devotion,  self-sacrificing  courage  and  trust  in  God. 
And  He,  to  whom  the  heart  of  the  nation  turned  in 
its  surprise  and  agony,  did  not  forsake  us.     "  If  the 


10 

Lord  himself  had  not  been  on  our  side,  may  Israel 
now  say,  if  the  Lord  himself  had  not  been  on  our  side 
when  men  rose  up  against  us,  they  had  swallowed 
us  up  quick.  The  deep  waters  of  the  proud  had  gone 
even  over  our  souL" 

2.  As  we  are  bound  to  ascribe  to  God  the  giory  of 
our  preservation,  for  vain  was  the  help  of  man,  so  it 
becomes  us  to  acknowledge  his  hand  in  all  the  means 
that  contributed  to  this  result.  He  works  by  instru- 
ments. He  sets  in  motion  and  regulates  the  agencies 
from  which  great  results  are  evolved.  And  it  is  a 
most  interesting  and  delightful  duty  to  review  the 
course  of  his  Providence  in  the  recent  struggle, 
and  to  trace  his  guiding  hand.  To  God,  then,  I  as- 
cribe, with  perfect  confidence,  the  great  uprising  of 
the  people  to  sustain  their  emperilled  government. 
That  sentiment  of  uncompromising,  ardent  patriotism 
which  flashed  over  the  land  with  the  swiftness  of  the 
magnetic  shock,  which  blazed  forth  in  the  city,  which 
was  felt  at  the  fireside,  which  kindled  its  beacon  fires 
on  every  cape,  and  headland,  and  hill-top,  which 
shook  the  remotest  hamlet,  which  drew  forth  brave 
men  by  tens  and  hundreds  of  thousands  to  ofter  up 
life  and  limb  for  their  country — that  high  and  noble 
enthusiasm  was  from  above.  It  glowed  in  the  breast 
of  many  a  poor  hard-working  man,  a  pure  and  sacred 
flame.  It  was  felt  by  none  more  deeply  than  by 
Christian  people,  and  was  largely  baptized  and  con* 


11 


gecrated  by  faith  in  God.    The  deep  religious  senti- 
ment,  so  widely  diffused  throughout  oar  hind,  felt  and 
decided  instinctively  that  a  conspiracy,  which  would 
kindle  the  fires  of  rebellion  and  civil  war,  and  jeopard 
in  the  devouring  flames  the  dearest  rights  of  a  great 
people,  and  would  cause  blood  to  flow"  in  rivers,  for 
the  purpose  of  extending  and  perpetuating  human 
bondage,  was  a  sin  against  God  as  well  as  a  crime 
against  humanity.     The  national  conscience,  en- 
lightened by  the  Bible,  decided  that  it  was  the  duty 
of  the  government  to  withstand  and  suppress  an  at- 
tempt so  odious  and  ruinous,  and  that  every  man 
with  the  heart  of  an  American  freeman  in  his  breast 
was  bound  to  sustain  his  rulers,  at  whatever  cost. 
Hence  the  willing  exposure  to  danger,  and  ungrudg- 
ing sacrifice  of  life — -the  outpouring  of  material 
wealth  in  a  constant  and  ever  deepening  stream. 
Hence  the  courage  that  never  quailed  ;  the  fortitude 
and  patience  that  never  faltered  ;  the  spirit  that  rose 
up  more  elastic  from  defeat ;  the  confidence  that  was 
unshaken  in  the  darkest  hour.     Hence  the  clear 
judgment  upon  the  great  points  at  issue,  which  no 
artful  sophistry  could  blind,  which  no  appeals  to  fear, 
or  selfish  interest,  or  old  prejudices,  could  pervert. 
To  God  I  give  all  the  praise  of  the  liberal  sympathy 
for  the  brave  defenders  of  the  land,  which  drew  forth 
such  exhaustless  beneficence,  and  sustained  such  un- 
precedented and  immense  charities  as  the  Christian 


12 


and  the  Sanitary  Commission.  Women  were  as  ready 
to  cheer  on  the  husband  and  the  son — to  work,  to 
nurse,  to  assist  and  comfort  the  combatants,  as  men 
were  to  follo  w  the  star-gemmed  banner  to  the  battle- 
iield  and  the  siege.  To  the  Giver  of  every  good  and 
perfect  gift  I  ascribe  the  unity  of  purpose,  the  reso- 
lution and  energy  that  animated  the  different  branch- 
es of  the  government.  He  raised  up  for  us  men  wise 
in  council  and  mighty  in  the  field.  And  especially 
is  God's  hand  to  be  recognized  in  the  selection  of  the 
Head  of  the  nation.  Mow  much  was  dependant 
upon  the  individual  who  should  occupy  at  such  a 
juncture  the  chair  of  State  !  And  how  remarkable 
the  man  elevated  at  so  critical  an  hour  to  this  aw- 
fully responsible  position.  Abraham  Lincoln  is  one 
of  the  few  names  that  will  live  forever,  embalmed  in 
the  grateful  memories  of  the  nation  in  whose  salva- 
tion he  was  so  conspicuous  a.nd  honored  an  instru- 
ment. He  was  unlike  other  public  men.  With  the 
simplicity  of  a  child,  with  the  tenderness  of  a  woman, 
without  advantages  of  education,  unfamiliar  with 
cabinets,  courts  and  camps,  comparatively  unknown 
and  untried,  he  was  placed  in  a  position  than  which 
never  man  occupied  one  more  trying.  But  he  was 
incorruptibly  honest,  true  to  the  very  core  of  his 
heart,  clear-sighted  and  discriminating,  firm  in  his 
determinations,  imbued  with  good  sense  and  practi- 
cal wisdom,  confiding  in  the  patriotism  of  the  people, 


1  Q 

strong-  in  his  convictions  of  the  justice  of  his  cause, 
and  trustful  in  God.  And  in  spite  of  the  most  en- 
Yenomed  hostility  and  artful  calumnies,  he  made  his 
way  to  the  heai'ts  of  his  countrymen  until  he  filled  a 
place  there  which  only  one  man  before  him  ever  w^on. 
This  man  the  Lord  placed  at  the  helm  of  the  ship  of 
State  in  the  height  of  the  tempest.  And  just  when 
the  clouds  were  breaking,  and  the  welcome  harbor 
was  full  in  sight,  he  was  taken  away.  Fearful  was 
the  shock  occasioned  by  his  bloody  death,  but  his 
work  was  done,  and  by  what  other  man  could  it  have 
been  better  done  ? 

3./\Ve  are  called  to  thank  God  to-day  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  a  great  moral  and  social  revolution —  . 
the  g'lory  of  our  age  and  country,  and  the  marvel  of 
the  civilized  world.  A  gigantic  evil  had  been  op- 
pressing the  nation  from  its  infancy,  shocking  the 
moral  sense  of  Christendom,  inspiring  our  wisest 
statesmen  with  painful  anxiety,  engendering  bitter- 
ness and  rancor  between  the  different  sections  of  the 
land. /And  yet  it  was  so  entrenched  in  mutual  cove- 
nants, so  intertwined  with  the  policy  and  the  indus- 
trial interests  of  the  country,  so  protected  by  prej  udice 
and  hedged  in  by  law,  that  relief  seemed  hopeless. 
As  a  prodigious  wen  it  was  encumbering  the  body, 
as  a  malignant  cancer  it  was  eating  into  the  vitals  of 
the  State — and  yet  it  seemed  impossible  to  cut  it  out 
with  safety  to  national  life.    Its  progress  threatened ' 

o 
O 


14 


death,  and  no  less  the  attempt  to  cure.  Good  and 
wise  men  contemplated  this  dread  evil  almost  with, 
despair.  They  Y/ere  dumb  with  conscious  impotence^ 
and  the  duty  of  suhmisssion  to  constitutional  com- 
pacts. There  was  a  deep-felt  disquietude — a  painful 
struog'le  in  many  a  breast  between  the  desire  for 
harmony  and  the  sense  of  right.  It  was  felt  that 
God  would  not  forever  tolerate  such  iniquity  in  a 
land  calling-  itself  Christian,  that  the  day  of  reckon- 
ing must  come,  and  be  all  the  heavier  for  delay.  And 
yet  man  seemed  powerless  and  at  fault.  Meanwhile 
the  evil  itself  was  growing  audacious  and  arrogant^ 
assuming  a  fiercer  and  more  imperious  tone,  seeking 
to  bend  the  whole  machinery  of  government  to  its 
behests,  claiming  an  unlimited  license  to  extend  its 
blighting  curse  over  the  whole  public  domain,  and 
brooking  not  the  least  check  or  resistance.  Scripture 
was  industriously  perverted  by  its  advocates,  and  the 
Bible  was  paraded  as  the  apology  for  grinding  op- 
pression.4  At  length,  impatient  of  control,  the  tiger 
burst  its  chain  and  flew  at  the  nation's  throat.  And 
now  we  have  Avitnessed  one  of  the  most  signal  vin- 
dications of  the  great  principles  of  divine  equity  ever 
displayed.  ^How  can  a  reflecting  man  doubt,  in  the 
face  of  the  events  that  have  lately  transpired,  that 
God  governs  the  world  !  It  is  his  manner  to  let  men 
work  out,  by  their  own  counsels  and  devices,  the 
overthrow  of  their  own  cherished  schemes.  The 


15 


Lord  is  known  by  the  jiidgineiit  that  he  execiiteih. 
The  wicked  is  snared  in  the  work  of  his  own  hands." 
Never  was  there  given  to  the  eartli  a  more  striking 
comment  on  this  text  and  others  like  it.  What  all 
the  opponents  of  slavery  could  not  have  effected  in  a 
generrttion,  has  been  done  by  its  fanatical  champions. 
The  hammer,  which  was  wielded  to  strengthen  and 
rivet  the  chain,  has  broken  it  in  fragments.  The  sword, 
which  was  drawn  and  sharpened  for  its  propagation, 
has  cleft  it  asunder.  The  blood,  which  reckless  conspi- 
rators caused  to  flow  in  fratricidal  strife,  has  deepened 
into  a  Red  Sea,  in  whose  depths  the  intatuated  slave- 
power  has  been  whelmed  and  destroyed  like  its  an- 
cient prototype.  God  took  the  matter  into  his  own 
hands.  The  shock,  which  armed  rebellion  gave  to 
the  land,  he  intensified  to  a  great  earthquake,  till  the 
very  walls  of  the  prison-house  were  shaken,  and  the 
prisoners'  chains  are  loosed,  and  the  keepers  of  the 
prison  fall  down  trembling,  and  ask,  Yf  hat  must 
we  do  to  be  saved  ?"  It  is  with  no  desire  to  exult 
over  a  fallen  foe  that  I  touch  upon  this  point,  bat  be- 
cause I  know  not  how  it  can  be  omitted  in  counting 
over  the  mercies  to  be  this  day  acknowdedged.  We 
are  bound  to  see  the  uplifted  hand  of  God.  Wilful 
blindness  to  so  marvellous  an  interposition  of  the 
Almighty  would  be  unpardonable  denial  to  him  of 
the  glory  that  is  his  due.  Our  country,  as  long  as 
God  preserves  it^  will  hail  with  joy  and  gratitude  this 


16 


auspiciciis  era.  And  no  part  of  our  land  will  have 
such  cause  for  thankfulness  as  that  which  had  for 
many  years  fostered  the  evil  and  experienced  the 
pernicious  effects  of  the  wrong*. 

4.  We  thank  God  to-day  for  Peace.  And  now  we 
can  hotter  appreciate  the  meaning-  of  this  magic 
word.  Before  our  trial  came,  we  knew  that  peace 
was  a  great  blessing,  and  we  annually  reckoned  it 
among  our  Providential  mercies  :  hut  oh,  our  concep- 
tions were  very  faint  and  inadequate  compared  with 
what  we  now  feel.  We  knew  not  then  what  it  was 
to  have  war  at  our  doors.  Our  midnight  slumbers 
and  Sabbath  assemblies  were  not  disturbed  by  the 
loud  alarum.  We  witnessed  not  the  long  trains  of 
armed  men  speeding  over  our  railways  onvv^ard  to  the 
fields  where  so  many  of  them  were  to  fill  a  soldier's 
grave.  We  gazed  not  upon  returning  trains  filled 
with  the  sick,  the  "wounded  and  the  maimed.  Im- 
mense hospitals  were  not  needed  to  shelter  the  thou- 
sands of  the  languishing  and  suffering*.  Long  lists 
of  the  killed  and  wounded  did  not  stare  us  in  the  face 
in  the  daily  journal,  along  v.diich  tear-dimmed  eyes 
were  ranging  with  agonizing  suspense.  The  mother, 
the  wife,  the  sister  did  not  start  and  tremble  at  the 
intelligence  that  a  great  battle  was  imminent — or 
faint  when  their  worst  forebodings  were  confirmed. 
The  horrors  of  imprisonment  were  not  added  to  the 
dangers  of  the  field — -nor  did  the  cheek  grow  pale 


17 


nor  the  blood  curdle  at  the  recital  of  woes  and  suf- 
ferings endured  by  the  unhappy  captive.     But  all 
these  things  have  since  become  a  daily  experience. 
We  have  known  the  awful  realities  of  warfare.  We 
have  been  called  to  send  forth  our  loved  ones  to  face 
danger  at  the  cannon's  mouth  and  to  stand  in  the 
imminent  deadly  breach.    We  have  been  surrounded 
by  widows  and  orphans.     We  have  walked  among 
the  long  rows  of  patient  sufferers.    We  have  followed, 
tovthe  sound  of  muffled  drums,  the  remains  of  fallen 
heroes  to  their  long  home.    Oh,  we  can  now  estimate 
the  value  of  peace.    And  the  peace  that  now  wakens 
the  glad  pulsations  of  our  hearts  is  such  a  peace  as 
we  may  well  be  thankful  for — not  a  disgraceful  com- 
promise with  treason — not  a  precarious,  hollow  truce, 
— but  a  righteous  and  honorable  peace,  having  the 
elements  of  perpetuity  and  stability,  because  ground- 
ed in  justice,  mercy  and  truth.    Yes,  ye  patriot  band 
who  have  fallen  in  this  noble  cause,  your  blood  hath 
not  been  poured  out  in  vain.  The  great  object  of  your 
brave  warfare  is  accomplished.    Your  country  is,  by 
your  voluntary  sacrifice,  redeemed  and  disenthralled. 
Your  names  shall  not  be  forgotten,  nor  those  whom 
you  have  left  behind  want  the  nation's  gratitude. 
Fair  let  the  flowers  bloom  above  your  graves,  and 
verdant  be  the  laurel  wreath  that  decks  your  monu- 
ments. 

Time  will  not  permit  me  to  dwell  upon  other  points 


IS 


of  great  interest  that  present  themselves.     In  so 
many  ways  has  God  watched  over  us  for  good  that  it 
is  impossible  to  enumerate  them  without  detaining 
you  too  long.     How  evidently  Providential  the  re- 
markable health  that  prevailed,  even  in  sections  of 
our  country  that  are  usually  unfavorable  to  the 
stranger  !    How  abundant  have  been  our  harvests  ! 
How  happily  have  we  been  preserved  from  foreign 
hostilities !     How  speedily  quelled  dark,  domestic 
conspiracies  !     Had  pestilence,  famine  or  European 
warfare  been  added  to  our  heavy  burdens,  how  could 
we  have  borne  up  under  them  !     And  how  rapidly 
have  the  stormy  billows  subsided  and  sunk  to  rest ! 
Opposition  to  the  authority  of  the  government  has  ut- 
terly ceased,  our  ovv^n  immense  armies  have  returned 
to  the  pursuits  of  peaceful  industry,  the  sword  has 
been  beaten  into  the  plow  share,  the  sights  and  sounds 
of  war  which  had  become  so  familiar  vanish  like  the 
passing  cloud,  and  the  community  are  returning  with 
unlooked  for  readiness  to  the  accustomed  occupations 
of  peace.    Far  from,  being  an  exhausted;  impoverished 
country,  we  have  every  evidence  of  increasing  wealth 
and  improving  prospects.    Surely  all  these  things,  so 
different  from  what  might  have  been,  should  call  forth 
the  liveliest  gratitude  to  our  divine  Guardian  and 
Benefactor.    Never  did  a  people  come  out  of  such  a 
struggle  with  resources  so  unimpaired  and  conditions 
so  flattering. 


19 


It  now  "becomes  lis,  without  in  any  degree  compro- 
mising the  great  principles  so  dearly  vindicated,  to 
promote  harmony  and  kindliness,  to  bury  animosity^ 
and  to  pour  the  oil  and  wine  of  Christian  compassion 
into  the  wounds  which  the  sw^ord  hath  left.  Those 
who  so  lately  stood  front  to  front  in  deadly  strife  are 
now  re-united  under  one  government.  They  are  to 
dwell  together  henceforth  as  citizens  of  one  great 
commonwealth.  How  important  that  genuine  frater- 
nal concord  hind  them  heart  to  heart!  Let  us  shew 
how  distinct  are  firmness  and  constancy  in  maintain- 
ing a  just  cause  from  bitterness,  rancor  and  revenge. 

During  the  war  great  claims  were  made  upon  the 
charitable  sympathies  of  our  people,  and  they  were 
nobiy  responded  to.  God,  who  loveth  a  cheerful 
giver,  hath  been  educating  us  to  give,  albeit  in  a 
painful  school.  Other  claims  are  now  pressed  upon 
us.  From  the  ashes  of  desolated  homes  the  cry  for 
help  is  earnest  and  thrilling.  Let  us  not  forget  the 
lesson  we  have  been  taught.  And  the  great  multi- 
tude to  whom  the  national  triumph  hath  given  liberty 
— their  old  associations  suddenly  broken  up — must 
inevitably  suffer  until  time  and  opportunity  are  given 
for  the  adjustment  of  the  new  system  of  labor.  No 
great  social  changes  can  take  place  without  tempo- 
rary derangement  and  distress.  To  this  people  the 
nation  owes  a  debt  of  sympathy  and  assistance  which 
it  would  be  unsafe  to  ignore,  for     their  Redeemer  is 


20 


mighty. "  Witness  the  fearful  reckoning  through 
which  we  have  passed.  But  I  trust  we  have  no  de- 
sire to  ignore  it,  but,  grateful  to  God  for  our  ow^n 
marvellous  preservation,  gladly  own  this  obligation. 
And  while  we  do  not  forget  their  bodily  necessities, 
how  important  to  send  them  means  of  acquiring  that 
knowledge  which  will  fit  them  for  the  new  position 
they  now  occupy,  and  that  better  knowledge  which 
maketh  wise  unto  salvation  ! 

God  grant  that  our  whole  people  may  fitly  respond 
to  the  vast  mercies  of  which  we  have  been  the  recipi- 
ents. May  we  never  forget  the  shield  of  our  help, 
the  E-ock  of  our  salvation.  May  it  be  our  glory — not 
that  we  are  a  great,  a  prosperous,  a  formidable  nation 
' — but  that  we  are  a  Christian  people.  Then  our  sun 
of  peace  and  empire  shall  never  go  down  in  blood,  but 
shine  with  ever  brightening  radiance  until  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  returns  himself  to  reign  over  a  redeemed 
world. 

O  may  this  goodness  lead  our  land, 
Still  saved  by  thine  Almighty  hand, 
The  tribute  of  its  love  to  bring 
To  thee,  our  Saviour  and  our  King  : 

Till  every  public  temple  raise 
A  song  of  triumph  to  thy  praise  ; 
And  every  peaceful,  private  home, 
To  thee  a  temple  shall  become." 


1 


CALL  NUMBER 


f75,/ 


Vol. 


/ 


Date  (for  periodical) 


Copy  No. 


975.1    Z99    V.l    Nos.1-11  P3071S 


